Research in the Borchert laboratory explores the regulation of gene expression by small RNAs. Our main focuses are on microRNAs (miRNAs), which are ~20 nucleotide RNAs that repress gene expression by base-pairing to messenger RNAs transcribed from specific protein-coding genes, and sRNAs, similarly functioning short noncoding RNAs in prokaryotes. Our lab examines the roles these noncoding RNAs play during growth and development, how they contribute to speciation, and how their misregulations contribute to disease and oncogenesis.

Current News

March 13, 2018

Borchert lab highlighted in Research Newsletter.
The Borchert lab was recently highlighted in an article titled "Making Sense of Big Data" in the USA Research Newsletter.

November 28, 2017

Borchert lab undergraduate recognized as 2017 Rhodes Scholar first runner up.
Borchert lab undergraduate researcher Christian Pearsall was recognized as the first runner up in the 2017 Rhodes Scholar competition. Christian came in 3rd out of 28 finalists in the region.

October 20, 2017

Borchert lab undergraduate receives research award.
Borchert lab undergraduate researcher Alex Coley's work on small RNA regulators of metastasis has been selected as one of the best 3 Undergraduate Student Research Projects at the University of South Alabama in 2017.

August 15, 2017

Dr. Glen Borchert featured in August 2017 Research Features magazine.
The laboratory and work of Dr. Glen Borchert, an Assistant Professor in Biology, was recently profiled in the prestigious international magazine Research Features. Research Features is well known for its in depth profiles of prominent researchers and ability to make complex science accessible to its readers.

Borchert Lab graduate students win 2 of 20 ACHE fellowships awarded in the state of Alabama.
Valeria King and Mika Houserova, have each been awarded highly competitive ALEPSCoR GRSP fellowships based on their studies of the roles snoRNAs play in breast cancer and novel genetic regulators of the salmonella stress response respectively. These fellowships are extremely competitive, and this is the second time Valeria King has won this award and the first one for Mika.

Borchert lab undergraduate receives research award.
Borchert lab undergraduate researcher, Ravi Rajendra, received the 2nd place student research award during the 94th annual, Meeting of the Alabama Academy of Science research symposium for his poster describing his work on exosomal RNAs.

October 4, 2016

Borchert lab undergraduate receives research award.
Borchert lab undergraduate researcher Alex Coley's work on small RNA regulators of metastasis has been selected as the best Undergraduate Student Research Project at the University of South Alabama in 2016. Alex is the third consecutive 1st place UCUR Research Award winner to come from the Borchert lab in the last three years.

June 6, 2016

Dr. Borchert named USA Junior Faculty Researcher of the Year. One pretenure researcher is selected annually for this award by the College of Arts and Sciences.

May 15, 2016

Borchert Lab graduate student, Valeria King, awarded highly competitive ALEPSCoR GRSP fellowship based on her studies of the roles snoRNAs play in breast cancer. These fellowships are extremely competitive with only 20 awarded this year to graduate students across the state of Alabama.

May 1, 2016

Two Borchert Lab Undergrads Win Competitive Awards. Congratulations to Audrey Knapp a Borchert lab undergraduate researcher for winning the John A. Freeman Scholarship! One USA Biology major is selected annually for this award. Congratulations are also in order for a second Borchert lab undergraduate researcher, Ravi Rajendra, for winning this year's Rawls Award for outstanding Biology Senior.

Feb 2, 2016

58 New Salmonella Genes

Borchert laboratory undergraduate,Shivam Amin, and graduate student, Justin Roberts, have first authored an extremely exciting new work identifying 58 entirely new Salmonella genes. This work has now been officially published online in the renowned journal RNA Biology:

www.tandfonline.com/eprint/

enXHIsTBhEhs6BI4tUtm/full

Nov 15, 2015

Borchert lab Master's Student honored with top Life Science graduate thesis award.
Dillon’s M.S. thesis (completed Su 2015) has been selected as the top Life Sciences thesis completed during the past year at USA. Two Masters theses are selected annually at USA (one from Life Sciences and one from Social Sciences, Business, and Education) to compete regionally for the best Master’s thesis in the southeast among Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) institutions.

Oct 16, 2015

Borchert lab undergraduate receives research award.
Borchert lab undergraduate researcher, Ravi Rajendra, received the top student research poster award during the annual, campus wide UCUR research symposium for his work on exosomal RNAs. Ravi is the second 1st place UCUR Research Award winner to come from the Borchert lab in two years.

Sept 12, 2015

Borchert lab receives award to fund new postdoctoral fellow.
The Borchert Laboratory in the Department of Biology received a fellowship ($72,000) from FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) awarded to Drs. Glen Borchert and Aline Cruello for Dr Cruello to complete a year long postdoc in the Borchert lab starting Spring 2016.

August 15, 2015

Borchert Lab graduate student, Justin Roberts, awarded the ALEPSCoR GRSP fellowship based on his studies of the molecular differences between two related but behaviorally distinct forms of breast cancer. These fellowships are extremely competitive with only 19 awarded this year to graduate students across the state of Alabama.